The Powerrrrr!!!!

Peartree

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For two weeks this month our cable system gave us all a free upgrade to the super duper high speed internet connection. Same as last year. If the pattern holds, soon I should get a phone call asking me if it wasn't just so super swell that I absolutely *have* to part with an additional $30 per month (I now pay $20/mo). This year I'll give them the same answer that I gave them last year...





I didn't notice the difference.:eek:
 

mjennings

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I clicked on the link and the first line is about competing with Verizon's FiOS network and guess what ad was in the bottom left corner, A Verizon FiOS ad. Ahh beautiful irony.

Almost as good as the time my brother's and I were watching reruns of the Simpson's it was the one with the faulty doorbell and the last line in the episode is "Stinkin Chevy" and instantly "Like a rock" comes out of the TV set for a Chevy truck commercial.

Enjoy the speed boost.
 

Bravo52

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I can't think of any reason why companies would limit speed anyway other than profit. I look at it like bank fees....pure profit with no overhead. We have Commcast here and they gave out the free "boost". I saw no difference. I probably need better hardware to take advantage of the speed......which is most likely the reason why 90% can't take advantage of any "boost". I don't think its worth the $10. I could use that to buy a Shrocket.......
 

MysticalRockets

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I can't think of any reason why companies would limit speed anyway other than profit. I look at it like bank fees....pure profit with no overhead. We have Commcast here and they gave out the free "boost". I saw no difference. I probably need better hardware to take advantage of the speed......which is most likely the reason why 90% can't take advantage of any "boost". I don't think its worth the $10. I could use that to buy a Shrocket.......

The answer to that is infrastructure. Most of the companies have very old lines that can't handle these speeds. Also, DOCSIS 3.0 is just being implemented now, so it will allow those speeds. The max you can do on DOCSIS 2 is 38/5, or there about.

The company I have just spent like 300 million on wi-fi and upgrades.
 

Bravo52

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The answer to that is infrastructure. Most of the companies have very old lines that can't handle these speeds. The company I have just spent like 300 million on wi-fi and upgrades.


Perhaps Comcast limitations are due to coax vs fiber. I thought DOCSIS3.0 was a fiber thing.......

Then again, all I really know about cable is that the SPEED Channel is #242.......
 

falingtrea

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Most of the time the limitation is the other end of the connection. Until everyone is running at 100MB, a 1.5MB DSL connection is just as good as a 100MB cable connection.
 

falingtrea

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Can you explain that a little further?

Sure. The connection between two locations on the internet is only as fast as the slowest connection. So if you go to a website that is connected to the internet by a 1.5 Mb line, you an only access it at 1.5 Mb, regardless of how fast your connection to the internet is.

Also, cable internet connections may advertise themselves as being really fast, but the connection is still shared by multiple users. So if a couple of your neighbors are downloading video-on-demand,or downloading stuff from the internet, or playing an online game, you really don't get the full 100 Mb pipe to yourself.

The power boost thing is a bit of a scam too. They get you to pay more money to have them remove the throttle from your connection so that if there is less traffic on the bus, you get more of the bandwidth. But if there is no reduction in traffic, you get no "boost".
 
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MysticalRockets

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Sure. The connection between two locations on the internet is only as fast as the slowest connection. So if you go to a website that is connected to the internet by a 1.5 Mb line, you an only access it at 1.5 Mb, regardless of how fast your connection to the internet is.

Also, cable internet connections may advertise themselves as being really fast, but the connection is still shared by multiple users. So if a couple of your neighbors are downloading video-on-demand,or downloading stuff from the internet, or playing an online game, you really don't get the full 100 Mb pipe to yourself.

Not exactly true.

I used to work for the company that is my provider. They're very good at giving their advertised speeds. The one I have now is 30/5, and my normal average is 27/4.5.

They have been spending lots of money upgrading their infrastructure over the past 3 years. They did a simulation after Katrina over what would happen if we ever got a storm like that here (very possible, according to predictions). They were very shocked at the results. Thus, the system-wide upgrade.
 
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